at home studio newb

J

Jbrickedwards

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At2020 into a Art Tube MP Project Series usb.
Running Adobe Audition.
vsts-waves,ambience,autotune,ozone 4,autotune, and various others.
I am fairly experienced in the basics of eq'ing,compressing,reverb and such..I have looked at a bunch of tuts but for some reason I still cannot get my vocals to sit in the mix right. I have tried carving out the instrumental a lil to add space, I have tried delay and reverb on busses and I have also used automation to help seal the vocs in on parts..Is there anyone who could tell me what else is used besides eq,compression and reverb to get a basic vocal??

---------- Post added at 04:46 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:37 PM ----------

anyone know how to do this effect..go on youtube and type this in.........effect starts at around 50 sec.....
watch?v=fp2_CrnJXG0
 
It's called time stretching, for the most part, but I believe that each DAW has its own proprietary name.
 
thanks for reply..i been trying to do it in audition but I cannot get it to sound near as crisp..
 
Regarding your initial question, each mix is its own puzzle so therefore the solution will vary. Start with getting the volume of the vocal somewhat in the area you want it, and then use compression to tame the dynamics of the vocal. Set the threshold so that all the richness and detail of the vocal is being captured. If you're mixing rap, you'll typically want the vocal to be "tighter", so use higher ratios and quicker attack/release (I've never had to use a ratio higher than 5:1 unless I was trying to mix a vocal on top of an instrumental mp3, so that should give you somewhat of a reference.. but never say never). Compression will decrease the volume of the vocal, so adjust the fader balance as necessary during this process. I usually do this all with the channel fader, I feel like using the gain inside the compressor adds artifacts to the sound but that might just be me. Once you have the "shape" of the vocal how you want it, you can utilize eq to fix any issues regarding the tonality of the vocal. Also, compression tends to bring out all the harsh "sssss" in a vocal, especially in rap, so you most likely will need to throw a de-esser on the end as well.

You should be able to get a decent rough mix through fader balance, compression, and eq only. Master these three aspects first before trying to delve into anything to more complex, it'll make life much easier later on.

If you can provide an example of what kind of sound you're getting at the moment we should be able to give you more precise answers. It will also help to know what kind of monitoring system and environment you're using. It is also very important to constantly compare your own mixes to professional grade mixes, so that you can hear where you need to improve and get ideas on how others solve certain problems.

With regards to that pitch-shift effect, playing with the vocal like that tends to make it lose information.. in particular, I know that when you make a vocal slower and lower in pitch you lose information in the higher frequencies, so you will have add those highs back via EQ in order to gain back legibility/crispness.
 
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thanks loend i will be posting a copy of the quality tonight.

---------- Post added at 06:56 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:48 PM ----------

is anyone familiar with using waves and nomad factory
plugins for mixing??
 
Why use a AT2020 if you have waves plugins? Unless its bootlegged/cracked yout money would go further on a better mic and pre than buying waved.

$Expensive plugs cant save sub par gear, unless your a beast as a mixing engineer, in which case you wouldnt be asking this question.
 
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